Baby Boom 2014: The Twins

Everyone around me is pregnant. But seriously… it may be because we live close to a maternity hospital or perhaps because I’m of that age when people start having families. Either way it means lots of sewing for this gal.

Seven of my friends are expecting… so much love! Below is a tutorial for two of the seven blankets involved in Baby Boom 2014.

One of my favorite photographers at work, Jacob, and his wife Mary are expecting twins. A boy and a girl. It’s so much fun to hear all about the prep work for the babies and see ultrasound pics. He’s ecstatic and terrified at the same time. One morning Jacob showed me a photo of the bright painted squares on the nursery wall (his days off are now filled with baby-prep projects.) I went to Joann’s knowing that the nursery was painted with bright primary colors and brown. Jacob and Mary also like to travel so the Interstate 80 fabric with Volkswagon Buses seemed perfect.

Start by cutting strips of each fabric into long rows, then sew together. This does not need to be precise. (The next time I use this technique I’m going to cut the strips even more varied.) Once you have a large sheet cut it vertically into piece as wide as you’d like. I cut 7 inches wide then used a half inch seem allowance.

Cut some white fabric to go between your colorful strips. I cut 4.5″ strips and again used a half inch seem. There are four colorful sections and three white. You can cut your strips as wide or narrow as you like to where it totals to the finished size you so desire.

Once you have the top finished lay it on your backing. I used chocolate colored fleece and no batting.

Pin the layers together so they don’t slip. Next, machine stitch the white sections. I stitched “in the ditch” along the seam and then in half inch increments… give or take a little.

You can see the fleece is fluffy enough to create a quilting effect. A used half inch double fold bias tape from Joann’s to bind the quilts. The binding is always the most difficult part for me (especially the corners!), but this tutorial from Wendy’s Knitch is really helpful.

Here are the finished blankets! The boy’s has navy fabric while the girl’s has pops of pink. I like how they are similar, but distinguishable.

I’m really eager to give the quilts to Jacob and meet the twins soon. If you’re not for to this much sewing Organic Quilt Company has some beautiful listings on Etsy. One of the designs actually inspired the quilts I made. Here’s to Baby Boom 2014!